Guildford Table Tennis League Week Nine

Published on: 18 Nov, 2019
Updated on: 18 Nov, 2019

Report by John Diggens

Week nine in the Guildford Table Tennis League saw a top of the table clash in Division Two between Ash B and Bramley A.

Ash’s 100% record went in a 7-3 defeat. The Bramley side won all of the three five setters with Geoff Nevitt taking two of them with deuce scores at the end in some thrilling encounters.

James Wyncoll.

The dependable Peter Palmer completed the job including the doubles with Nevitt. James Wyncoll lost two in a match for the first time this season.

In the First Division, star of the week was ‘class act’ Trevor Sanders of the Aftermath B side, who took out the Merrow D side in fine style, scoring four points in a five all draw with them.

Only John Grant took him close, actually wining the first two sets, before succumbing to an amazing comeback at 9 in the fifth.

Division Three and College Hill E had a good 8-2 victory over Challoner B with Melvin Rose and Lesley Clement getting three each.

Interestingly, the Guildford-based club lost the initial three clashes all at deuce in the fifth. As often happens with a one-sided score line the doubles eluded the winning team.

In Round 4 of the Guildford Junior League, The Thunderbolts ended Merrow Hawks’ unbeaten record by securing a well-earned 3-2 win over the league leaders.

Anton Kepa notched two fine wins over Jai Dhillon and Max Swindells and brother Kyle added a 3-0 win over Max.

For the Hawks, Jai defeated Kyle 3-0 and then teamed up with Max to take the doubles 11-7 in the deciding game.

Despite their impressive victory, the Thunderbolts actually dropped two places to fourth in the table. This was due to both VM and Merrow Demons scoring 5-0 wins in their matches and consequently leapfrogging the Thunderbolts.

VM defeated EJJ 5-0 but not without some nerve-wracking moments. Vlad Cretu squeezed past Elliot Latham 11-8 in the fifth set and then teamed up with Thomas Bailey to win an equally close doubles match against Elliot and Jemima Atkins.

The Demons managed their whitewash against Ash & Alex. Jack Liu and Dan Godsill were unbeaten against Ashley Minoo and Alex Evans.

Due to a mix-up, the Looters had turned up with only one player, Sasha Dow, in their match with Farnborough Flames.

However, his school friend, Santiago Canals-Marti, stepped in to save the day! Sasha won the first match 3-1 against Charlie Everingham, but thereafter the Flames took the remaining matches 3-0 to win 4-1. Anna Simms-Soteras was unbeaten for the Flames.

National Cadet League Report Round 1 by Adam Laws

On November 10, Guildford A and Guildford B participated in the first round of the 2019-20 National Cadet League at Waterside Table Tennis Centre, Southampton.

Guildford A, in Division 1, were represented by Vincent Quiambao, Jamie Orton and Katie Snelson. Guildford B, in Division 2, were represented by Anton Kepa, Kyle Kepa, Dan Godsill and Jack Liu.

Guildford’s NCL players.

Guildford A faced very strong opponents in the first division – none more so than in their first match against Waterside A (who ended up winning the division) when they were dispatched 6-0.

They fared better in their next match against Weymouth B, drawing 3-3. Vincent managed a superb double against Jean Baker and Ashleigh Browne, and Jamie added a solid 3-0 win over Dan Howe, in a match that would ultimately prove crucial.

Thereafter, Guildford lost 6-0 to DTTA, 4-2 to Waterside B and 5-1 to Weymouth A. In these matches, Vincent managed to pick up three singles wins against tough opposition.

Ultimately, Guildford finished level on points with Weymouth B, so it was the head-to-head record which was crucial in determining which team would be relegated to division 2.

As they drew 3-3, it went to games won, and this went in favour of Guildford A 11-10! If Jamie had won 3-1 instead of 3-0, it would have been 11-11 in games and would have had to be decided on most points won! Ultimately Guildford stayed in division 1, finishing in fifth place out of six teams.

All of the Guildford B players were making their debuts in the National Cadet League and they started off strongly by defeating Weymouth C 8-1. Anton and Dan each won 3 out of 3 and Kyle added a brace.

Their next match was against Waterside C, who had won their first match 9-0.

For this match, Jack replaced Kyle. Anton started off with a good 3-0 win over Charlotte Fee but Dan lost a tight match 11-6 in the decider against Mikey Tilsley.

Jack was on next against the hard-hitting Ben Adams and it looked like a baptism of fire when he went 2-0 and 8-1 down. Miraculously, Jack clawed back to 9-9 with some fine play of his own and ended up taking the third set 14-12 and then the fourth 11-8. In the decider he went 10-7 down but pegged the score back again by saving three match points.

Unfortunately, it was not to be as Jack succumbed 14-12 in the decider but he played unbelievably well. Dan and Jack added one more win each against Charlotte and Mikey respectively to level the scores at 3-3. However that was as good as it got as Guildford B lost 6-3.

In their final match, Kyle came back into the team to replace Dan and they managed to end as they began with an impressive 8-1 win against Generation 2 A. Kyle and Jack each won three matches and Anton won twice. They ended the day in second place. With only one team getting promoted, Guildford B will remain in Division 2 for the next round of matches on December 15.